MC Escher in Lego

Sky and Water

When I was a kid, I loved the works of M.C. Escher. I even had a T-shirt, with the design to the right, of Sky and Water. I was fascinated with how he could trick make my eyes not believe what they were seeing. It was probably the only time in my life that I enjoyed not knowing the answer.

I also liked Legos. I had 1000's. It used to be that all there were were regular "town" creations -- cars, houses, police station, etc. But I moved into castle sets. Now, there are at least a dozen series of different sets -- Star Wars, ninja, Pharaoh, and whatnot. I brought Elijah and two of his friends to a Lego store last December; it took them over 45 minutes to figure out how they each wanted to spend their $20. A little overwhelming, for us all.

It's fun to use Legos to create real life depictions and artwork. My kids have been inspired by others creating Bible Stories with Legos, even building Easter scenes. They have not built an SUV out of Lego bricks. Not yet, at least.

Recently, we came across a site that showed how someone recreated M.C. Escher's artwork using Legos. Here are some of our favorites:

Belvedere.

Relativity.

Waterfall. On this one, he had to cheat a little (read the story in the article). Still pretty cool.

I was amazed at how few kids in the after school program here have used Legos, until I'm reminded of how expensive they are (the Lego SUV has an estimated materials-only cost of $40,000, not including labor, or an engine). We were so thankful for a friend's HUGE donation of their unused Legos. 

Do your kids like to create with Legos? What's been their biggest project?